Zozza 351 Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Go Flex are the ones I have.... and I paid quite a bit less than noted above, a lot less. They were a lot more than all others but on sussing the level of trust in the manufacture was far higher and for my application trust is very important. Bugger, should have said "I know KM, give me a discount"! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 544 Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 The other day I had one lying on the kitchen bench not in direct sun away from any windows and the meter was reading 18.8V. Not sure if that means anything but I thought I should like that. Nope. For this scientific demonstration, you will need a Vacuum cleaner (ask wife and Multimeter. Take the Vaccy's plug to the wall socket, but do not plug it in. Take the multimeter set to Volts and poke the leads into the wall socket and measure the Voltage. It should hopefully read somewhere around 230V. When you do that, does the Vaccy run??? Nope! The same thing can be done by pluging in the vaccy but not sitching it on and measuring the Voltage in a strategic place, but much easier and safer doing it the way described above In a nutshell, the Panels all have an open circuit voltage. It's easy to produce a Volatage, but to "do work" you need current as well and the Panel would not be producing any current. So if you could plug the panel in to something, it would not drive the something very well or at all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ScottiE 174 Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 something like this I should imagine! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Panther 1,767 Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Was at Westhaven yday by coincidence. so we went to Beacon Marine. Seems like a good product, guy there was knowledgeable and easy to talk to, but they are eye wateringly expensive. Good news is his figures on performance were way ahead of what i had been calculating. No brainer now to go solar. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonathan 4 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Burnscoe have a 130w semi flexible and mppt controller for $449 100w setup is $349, any thoughts on the panel itself? http://www.burnsco.co.nz/shop/rv/electrical-lighting/flexible-solar-panel-130w Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonathan 4 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Only after battery charging on tamaki river piles... have a genset onboard, thinking the 100W would be fine Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deep Purple 530 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Burnscoe have a 130w semi flexible and mppt controller for $449 100w setup is $349, any thoughts on the panel itself? http://www.burnsco.co.nz/shop/rv/electrical-lighting/flexible-solar-panel-130w I bought a 30watt v version of that one to keep the battery in the Dragon topped up while on the marina for the few months it's there. It only runs an automatic bilge pump. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonathan 4 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Found an aliexpress sellor, have a few on the way Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonathan 4 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 looks ok quality not cheapest Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adrianp 136 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 I was in Jaycar Northshore yesterday and they had one that looked identical to that on special for $489 a think, down from $800ish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonathan 4 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 I will do $350 for you.... charlie ash Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Farrari 4 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 I paid $275 (including shipping) for my semi flexible 100W solar panel about 18 months ago and it was distributed from NZ. I only use it as a nice to have and am not relying on it for anything important. It's still working fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonathan 4 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 you can get a lot cheaper then this one.... IE you can land a 100W for about $145 nzd these ones are cheap as chips in china http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1257706302 but its not the same construction, been doing some reading Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tuffyluffy 76 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Buying on price is, can be, false economy. About 6-7 years ago me and D1 built a eco micro dwelling that is solar powered. I had a BP made panel of unknown age and I brought 2 more, which was done based on cheap, not the cheapest but they were still at the cheaper end of the spectrum. All were installed the same way and get washed every few months etc. Their life would be pampered compared to one uses on boats. The BP panel still looks identical to the day we put it up and is going great guns. The other to have lots of signs they are not long for this world and their output is down a fair bit, I suspect the cells are backing up and in a variable manner i.e. some are OK and some are not. Hence when I brought the panels for my boat I went top end. But then they are also very mission critical so not a situation to skimp in. Did you ever use that Maxon 12v - 240v inverter with this setup? I ended up giving them all away and never kept one for myself hence I'm interested to know if it was any good? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 544 Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Another thing that sets panels apart is the clear covering. Cheap panels can use a clear acrylic, the better clear glass but even though it looks clear to our eyes, apparently not so to the Light Bugs. Apparently some just bounce off instead of through. You will usually see in specs of the more expensive panels, a figure that relates to light transmission through the covering. This goes hand in hand with the fact that many of the more expensive panels also work in a wider bandwidth of light and the two extreme ends of the light they can use tend to get reflected of the cover rather than transmitted through it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ScottiE 174 Posted February 16, 2017 Author Share Posted February 16, 2017 I see AA Solar have now pulled the flexible panels from their site . . . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
OSBNZ 0 Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 I have been going through old threads with particular reference to Flexible Solar Panels. There is so much negativity around flexible panels and I understand that there have been some very poorly manufactured cheap panels that have justified this reaction. Clearly Solbian have been setting the standard at the premium end and unashmedley, with a price to match. I am sure there must be some other brands with good experience and a track record to challenge them, but the difficulty is how to sort out which ones. I would be interested in any feedback from those who have been running flexible solar panels for a while and what brands they have used. Do they appear to be holding up to the UV?? Any drop off in output?? I dropped in to Enertec this week and had a look at their 3rd generation "Juice" panels which have a more UV stable outer skin, instigated from earlier iterations not going the distance. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,294 Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 I've used multiple brands. The best was uni-solar, did 10years. Unfortunately they no longer make panels small enough for a yacht. Several Chinese panels, 1-2.5 years. I've done a few Juice panels as well, wont be doing more, failure rate too high. I have no recommendations right now, but would like to find something not cost prohibitive- like solbian. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 bought 2x Goflex from Beacon about 3yrs ago and they are dieing rapidly. Each year the performance drops off. I reckon by next year (4) they’ll be next to useless. I was told at the time that the extra price of the premium flexible brands doesn’t but you more power but more lifespan. Regardless, I’d never buy flexible again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mcp 34 Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Sunpower Flexible panels have a 5 year 80% output warranty. Which is as good as you are going to get really with a flexible panel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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